Trump and Zelensky hold 'good' Davos meeting as envoys head to Moscow

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a private, hour-long meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that Ukrainian advisers describe as "good," part of a concentrated U.S. diplomatic push to advance talks aimed at ending Russia’s nearly year-long war in Ukraine.

The encounter, scheduled for 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. Eastern) and lasting roughly an hour, follows intense shuttle diplomacy by American envoys who have been engaging with Ukrainian and Russian interlocutors in Switzerland. Trump told Davos attendees before the meeting that he believed both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky were at a point where they could “come together and get a deal done,” adding bluntly that “if they don’t, they’re stupid.” During exchanges at the forum, he said the war “has to end,” and indicated he was engaged with Zelensky, saying, “I’m dealing with President Zelensky, and I think he wants to make a deal.”

The Davos meeting takes place against a fraught backdrop of renewed Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and worsening winter conditions that Ukrainian officials say have made any diplomatic progress urgent. Kyiv’s delegation arrived after travel through the night, with Zelensky previously signalling he might skip Davos unless attendance would materially advance peace talks. Ukrainian officials had also pressed for an economic framework for postwar reconstruction and a U.S. outline of security guarantees as possible outcomes of the discussions.

Central to recent negotiations is the status of Donbas. Proposals under consideration include a demilitarised zone and a free economic zone for the region in exchange for security guarantees for Kyiv. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner have been meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Davos and are scheduled to travel to Moscow to meet with President Putin, then proceed to the United Arab Emirates for working groups. Speaking in Davos ahead of the Moscow trip, Witkoff offered guarded optimism, saying, “I think we’ve got it down to one issue” and that the remaining matter was “solvable.”

The Kremlin, while engaging with the American envoys, remains cautious. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said discussions would continue “on the Ukrainian issue and other related topics” but declined to confirm any shared optimism about a breakthrough.

For Zelensky, the Davos appearance was transactional as much as symbolic: Kyiv has sought concrete security assurances and an economic plan that would underpin reconstruction and political settlement. Ukrainian advisers said Zelensky had hoped to sign two key documents covering future security guarantees and economic prosperity, but it remained unclear following the meeting whether any formal commitments would be announced.

The Davos exchange follows a pattern of high-level contact between Trump and Zelensky, including a meeting at Mar-a-Lago last month that both sides described as constructive. Other diplomatic threads at the summit persisted, with NATO and European officials holding parallel discussions on Arctic security and preventing great-power access to Greenland that have implications for broader transatlantic cooperation.

With Witkoff and Kushner en route to Moscow and continued consultations among American, Ukrainian and Russian interlocutors, the Davos meeting is being cast by participants as potentially pivotal but not yet decisive. The advisers’ assessment that the conversation was “good” and Witkoff’s insistence that one issue remains “solvable” signal progress, even as the absence of announced signings underscores the substantial obstacles that remain.